The present invention relates to torque dampening compensators for vehicles. Existing compensators suffer from several common drawbacks. First, compensators generally rely on the compression of elastic material enclosed between input and output members to dampen torque pulsations, resulting in thrust loading of the compensator when the elastic material expands parallel to the axis of rotation, perpendicular to the direction of compression. Expensive thrust bearings have commonly been employed to handle the thrust load. Additionally, the elastic material provided in existing compensators provides a relatively fixed damping rate. Such compensators must sacrifice performance in either low-torque/vibration compensation or high-torque compensation capacity in favor of the other. If a balance is desired between low-torque performance and high-torque capacity, the compensator can achieve only mediocre performance in both areas. Furthermore, compression set introduces driveline lash after repeated use. Existing compensators have addressed compression set by oversizing and preloading the elastic material, complicating assembly.